Alternatives to eBay for selling pearls

[Nerida]

Hi Mervione, I just wrote a long post and lost it because I had been "timed out"! That will teach me to press the "remember" button next time!!

I had quite a few items listed on ebay before my website was up and running. Over a period of a month or so, I sold only one strand of pearls to a gorgeous US customer! I doubted myself, my stock, my pricing, pretty much everything - but I really do think ebay is good for long term selling. I have moved to my own website now (still a major work in progress) with a little more success.

What I would suggest though, is to try an "at home" showing of your pieces. If you have build up a bit of stock, invite everyone you know over, and see what happens! I did this about 18 months ago, when I was wondering whether I would truly start to take my pearl trading seriously. And that was buying finished pieces only. It was a great success, and now most weeks I have a market or fair where I am selling my pearls - finished pieces, but now, (thanks to the forum) mostly handcrafted by me! It is going along quite well, and the feedback you get "on the spot" from potential customers is worth its weight in gold!! Give it a try!

I am sure ebay will eventually work well for you, but in the meantime, try a bit of face to face selling - your pieces are lovely, well priced, and your workmanship looks good - you have nothing to lose!!

 

[robinmce]

Hi Mervione,
I haven't tried ebay yet. There is so much listed it would be hard to get people's attention there unless you are a trusted seller (Hello Carolyn!!). I imagine you will need patience to sell there and hopefully word will spread and you will find repeat customers for your lovely things.
I wear my stuff and end up selling it off my neck or getting custom orders.
Also am having some jewelry parties in September. Will let you know how that goes.
I find most people have not heard of tahitian pearls (my faves) and would rather buy moderately prices FW pieces.
Robin

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Okay, I have to ask: how do you sell something that you are wearing? Is it only to people who know you are selling? Or do you wait for a compliment (from anyone) and then reply that it's for sale? (I can't imagine that random strangers are walking up to you and asking to buy your jewelry!)

 

[robinmce]

No!! random strangers don't grab things from my neck and hand me cash!! People I know watch what I'm wearing and ask to try it on. ..and sometimes don't want to give it back!! Therefore sale made. I offer to make custom pieces but most people seem to need to see it pre-made before they know if they like it.
When I get a compliment from strangers I tell people I made it (not offer to sell it) and if they continue the conversation I give them a card.
I'm not pushy!!
Robin

 

[Pearl Dreams]

...People I know watch what I'm wearing and ask to try it on. ..and sometimes don't want to give it back!! Therefore sale made...When I get a compliment from strangers I tell people I made it (not offer to sell it) and if they continue the conversation I give them a card....
Robin

Sounds like a good system!

I think if I did that, I'd be sure to have a little mirror available in my purse so they could see how nice they looked.

*still chuckling over the image of random strangers handing you cash*

 

[waimeamomi]

I have sold off my neck to a stranger, but it is usually to people I know. When someone compliments me, I tell them I made it and that I have a small jewelry business. If they ask me if it is for sale or do I have another one like it, I tell them I tell them the truth, which is that I always try out my pieces by wearing them. I recently sold a $1200 necklace to someone who had bought something from me several years ago, because I wore it to the local farmers market to buy lettuce! I just had a feeling before I left that I should, especially since I was going to be outside in the sunlight where it picked up well. The truth of the matter is that good jewelry should look better on than off, and that is always the advantage. I always encourage people to try things on, and try and match them to a piece. Sometimes they fall in love with something when it is on that they never would have picked up themselves. They don't see themselves the way others do. All the pieces that I couldn't sell on ebay sold this summer in person. Almost everything on my website is gone, because of in-person sales! Get a friend to sponsor a ladies night/jewelry evening and see what happens. Then make her something really awesome!

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Sheryl
Photos, photos, photos!!! Put them in an album too!

 

[waimeamomi]

I have lots of pictures posted in other posts. How do I do an album? Summer vacation is over for me (I'm a teacher) and now I am just scrambling to get near my jewelry makings and my website which needs some updating. Maybe if I spent less time on this site??? Nah.

 

[Caitlin]

Go to your profile page and look for Albums. Very easy to make an album.

 

[Mervione]

Hi everyone. Thank you for your support and all your suggestions, it means a lot.

Nerida: I?m not sure how successful it would be for me to arrange an "at home" party. Most people I know are family and friends and I think it?d feel sort of mean to act like a sales person to them. However, I might give them or let them buy things for the materialcost. People might ask where they got their jewelry and then they could tell about me. Free advertising! And they wont mind it if I give stuff to them for free.

I kinda got an idea when you mentioned market. Every weekend there?s a BIG market at S?dermalm (An area in Stockholm) in Stockholm, from what I?ve read about it there?s lots of people there selling handcrafted items. So I?m planning to make lots of jewelry, go there and see how it goes. I?m quite shy so it?ll be a big challenge but I?m totally serious about this...

Sueki: Thanks for your kind words. I?ll keep that day and time in mind for my listings.

 

[Nerida]

Mervione, my biggest source of high-end markets is the private schools - they all have a massive fair at least once a year as a fundraiser... I'll pm you some photos of how I do it. With the public markets, go along to one first to check out if you would feel secure enough there with your jewellery. Good luck!

 

[pearlescence]

I would visit the big market first and do the research...what is being sold? how do prices compare to your stuff?
Are people buying as opposed to looking - I found that at craft fairs people look around and get ideas and talk talk talk to you but they do not buy. So I don't try to sell there any more
The schools suggestion is brilliant - may I try it too Nerida?

 

[Nerida]

Of course, Wendy! Somehow I don't think we will run into an issue of competing with each other too much!

Some schools charge vendors a commission, others just a flat rate.. I think the trick is to work out that in this instance, your "customer" is the fair organizing committee - what type of image do they want to present? Can you help them meet that requirement? Who do they want to attract to their fair? You would be amazed at how much money changes hands at these fairs... I had a great day last weekend, selling mostly my highest quality pieces (my gorgeous mixed SS and tahitian baroque ropes, for example, and the beautiful white "keishi"), to a discerning clientelle. There were at least 15 other jewellery vendors, probably about half costume jewellery, and there were 4 other pearl vendors, one a goldsmith with diamonds and pearls. And this is at an outdoor school fair. Mind you, this school didn't have pony rides, it had helicopter joy flights.....

 

[pearlescence]

Eton here I attempt to come! If selling at that level you only need a few sales to be doing cartwheels by the end of the day.
And I am assuming that you make sure that everyone takes your card?
Seriously, I will get right on to this. much thanks.
You mentioned pix?

 

[pattye]

Thank you ALL for sharing so many helpful ideas. I am considering doing a 1 day street fair in a couple of weeks. Probably featuring the Oregon gemstones, and some pearls, of course! Will be doing a large Christmas Bazaar at convention center (sharing a booth) for 2 straight Fri-Sat-Sun weekends the end of Nov and first weekend of Dec. Hopefully I will have some info to share from those experiences.

 

[Nerida]

When it comes to the school fairs (and yes Wendy, these schools are the Aus. equivalent of Eton and Harrow etc. in some cases), the most "lucrative" ones are the ones where there is an Art Prize or Show annually - people come expecting to spend money - your pearls would fit in well. Also, tailoring the products you take along to these events helps. If men are going to be wandering around with their wives, you probably aren't going to sell too many $80 - $150 items, as the guys tend to think of them as costume jewellery and not worth the money. If the men aren't around (like a fair associated with the opening of the rugby season - the men watch the sport, the women shop) - most women will buy these pieces for themselves without too much second thought! Also, if the guys ARE around, you will sell more big ticket items, women will buy these expensive pieces only if their partners are happy with it.

Interestingly though, although all my friends love my pearls and buy/refer frequently, I don't want to do the fair at my daughter's school - just seems like a bit of a conflict of interests for me.

I am also doing a few Christmas markets/fairs - one of which is run by our National Trust in a stunningly beautiful home on the Harbour foreshore - probably a hundred or more stallholders are invited. Another idea (not my idea, they just invited me along) is a private fundraising function I am doing on our big Melbourne Cup day. It's kind of like Royal Ascot meets Kentucky Derby - all of Australia bets on this race, and most offices have parties and most "ladies who lunch", lunch! This function will have over a hundred women attending, and about a dozen vendors invited along. I'd been invited as a guest, but now I get the best of both sides of the event! Should be fun! There are definitely options around, and often you can do these things on quite a small scale.

Caitlin - maybe this should be in a separate thread? We've definitely ventured away from ebay selling here - sorry!

 

[pattye]

Yes! Lets make it a separate thread! Thanks very much!

 

[Nerida]

Thanks for moving these posts, Caitlin!

 

[borah]

A great website if you're looking to start a business is www.theswitchboards.com/forum
If you're looking for other internet outlets to sell, there's dawanda.com which is pretty much a European version of Etsy. There's also bigcartel.com which hosts your site for you and has some pre-designed site formats I believe. mintd.com is one I've heard of that's based out of Australia which is also like etsy, and shopify.com is apparently another good one although I think its fees are a bit pricy if you're just starting out. I haven't used any of these sites myself but I've been looking for Ebay and Etsy alternatives. Ebay because there are just so many frauds on there (both selling and buying) that I'm hesitant to join and Etsy because the jewelry section seems veryyy saturated and I'm not sure any of the shoppers are really looking for nice pearl jewelry, Etsy highlights their best sellers every couple of weeks and I've yet to see anyone who makes high end jewelry (or even jewelry that doesn't rely heavily on charms). Unfortunately I think mintd and dawanda also probably has a much smaller audience than Etsy which might be why their jewelry sections are still more manageable to browse through. Trying to figure out where to sell is work itself

 

[gemologist]

Ok, I need help here. I am trying to open freshwater pearls up to crafters, textile producers and so forth. I have a website and I just put up some pearls on ebay in a featured auction, because so many people have pearls up on ebay, but its mostly strands. My pearls are undrilled for gluing or whatever else people come up with. Every once in a while I see freshwater pearls that are the same quality or even less than mine go for alot just for a single piece. How would I go about convincing people to buy pearls bulk for resale or crafty purposes?

Maybe it's just the way I put it on ebay. if someone with more experience in pearl sales could take a look and see if I made any errors I would appreciate it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=140261926732

Also, I am trying to get listed on google products, anyone have experience with this?

What about blogs, facebook or similar sites? Do those work?